And Chaos Ensued

June 18, 2003

~9:30 PM

Georgetown, Virginia

"It was so much better than the first one," Scully was arguing as she followed Mulder down the hallway. "The partnership between Trinity and Neo was more solid, and there was even more insight into what actually makes us all human--"

"All I'm saying is that nothing can beat the original," he insisted. "The sheer brilliance of the plotline, and the ground-breaking special effects... unparalleled."

They found themselves in front of the apartment door, and both of them sighed ruefully. "It's too early to go back," Scully whined, and leaned on his arm playfully. "We can pay overtime, Kate will understand if we stay out a little longer..."

"But William won't," said Mulder, trying to foil Scully's attempts to yank his hands away from the door. He finally got his keys in the lock, only by kissing her senseless so she'd leave him alone.

"No, come on," she said, unsuccessfully tugging him back towards the elevator. "We never get time to ourselves anymore--"

She was interrupted by a piercing howl coming from inside the apartment, a cry she recognized as her son's. She instantly looked at Mulder, who mirrored her expression of alarm and urgency.

He unlocked the door, flung it open, and quickly scanned the room for his son. William was sitting alone in the hallway near the bedroom, and crying hysterically. Scully rushed past her partner and scooped up the toddler, clutching him to her chest.

"Oh, sweetheart, what's wrong?" she soothed, stroking his hair. "It's all right, mommy's here..." Mulder looked at her worriedly as he searched the apartment, one hand on his holster.

William let out another wail and pointed towards the guest bedroom. "Kayyyy!"

Mulder's head jerked in his son's direction. "Kate? Where's Kate, William?" He hurried past both mother and son to the dark bedroom, where the door was wide open and the curtains flapped in the breeze.

"Oh God, Scully," he said over his shoulder. "Call the police."

"Blunt force trauma to the occipital lobe, weapon unknown..." the coroner was mumbling into a tape recorder as he followed the CSU outside.

Half an hour later, the crime scene unit had removed the body and a detective was trying to question two-year-old William and his extremely distraught mother.

"Who would do this?" Scully sobbed, trying to comfort William as a few remaining cops swarmed out of the bedroom with evidence bags. "I just don't know why this keeps happening to us..." Mulder squeezed her shoulders reassuringly.

"I called Doggett and Reyes," he whispered covertly.

"All right, Ms. Scully, I think we're done here," said the detective. "We just need to keep the crime scene sealed for about a week while we process the evidence."

Scully nodded tearfully and shook his hand. "Thank you, detective," she said. "My colleagues Agents Doggett and Reyes will be helping you with the investigation. I'm sure their experience will be useful to you."

"FBI?" said the detective, frowning. "I'm sure our forensics team can handle it on their own--"

"No, no, I insist," said Scully. "Really, I'm sure they'd be happy to take this case off your hands... I'll have them contact you in a few days."

Mulder hastily showed the detective to the exit and, after thanking him profusely for his support and understanding, shut the door behind him. Finally he turned around, leaning against the door, and sighed in utter exhaustion. He shook his head. "Scully, what are we going to do?"

She looked up at him from the couch, all traces of tears gone from both her face and her voice, and shrugged. "He didn't mean to. It was an accident."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ceramic snowglobe encrusted with dried blood, weighing it in his hand. "This is the third babysitter he's killed this year, Scully. He's the only toddler in the world with a body count."

"He's only trying to catch up to his father," she retorted, watching fondly as William giggled at the colored foam building blocks floating above his head. Mulder frowned and plucked the blocks out of thin air, stuffing them in William's very large toybox and locking the lid.

"This doesn't bother you at all?"

"Of course it does. You think I like coming home to a dead babysitter on my living room floor? You think I like having to cover our bed with a shatterproof plastic safety bubble at night, so we won't die in our sleep if William dreams about falling ceiling fans or dancing nightstands?"

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Mulder asked, again.

Scully sighed. "John and Monica should be here soon," she said. "Maybe they'll have an idea."

As if on cue, and also to move the story along, there was a knock at the door. Mulder opened it and ushered Doggett and Reyes inside. They were dressed nicely, as if they'd just been out to a fine restaurant.

William came running unsteadily up to them, and Doggett scooped him up with a grin. "Hey, buddy! Heard you caused some trouble again tonight!"

"I did not!" said William, giggling.

"I think it was William, in the bedroom, with the snowglobe," said Reyes.

"She's right," said Scully. "Game over."

Doggett transferred the toddler into Mulder's arms. "Looks like we've got another homicide to illegally sweep under the rug," he said, inspecting the door to the nursery, which was sealed with crime tape. "Your two-year-old has his own conspiracy network."

"Well, we're looking to disband that conspiracy," Mulder said, "and as always, all suggestions are welcome."

"Sorry," said Doggett, "I must have missed the lesson at Quantico called, 'How to De-Telekineticize Your Toddler.'"

"It's a book, actually," said Scully, picking it up from the coffee table. "Don't waste your money, it didn't work."

"Well, I think William is a special case," said Reyes, thoughtfully. "Or... maybe not so special after all..."

She trailed off into silence, apparently in a world of her own, and her eyes glazed over. Everyone turned to look at her expectantly, and finally Doggett snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Oh!" she said suddenly. "Sorry. I was just having a vision- something about a snowglobe, and a dead babysitter. Weird, huh? So, what was I saying?"

"I think you were trying to say that you had an idea about William and his..." Scully waved her hands in the air to represent the flying objects that had become a part of their everyday lives.

"Ohhh, yeah," said Reyes. "Okay, I've done a lot of research and a lot of thinking, and I believe that certain unexplainable occurrences in the X-Files seem to fit a profile."

"What do you mean, a profile?" asked Doggett.

Reyes smiled slightly and her voice lowered, signalling an impending crackpot theory that everyone was sure to reject. "Well... think about phenomena like levitation, spontaneous combustion, mind control, and teleportation. All are thoroughly documented but still completely unexplained. At least... unexplained by us."

Scully crossed her arms. "What are you saying, Agent Reyes? That there's someone out there that can explain all those things?"

"Not just one person, Agent Scully. A whole society of people- a secret society- all around the world. Not only can they explain those phenomena, but they also make it all happen themselves. They're wizards, they use magic. And they're everywhere."

"You've been reading too much fantasy," said Mulder with a laugh. Reyes chuckled too, but then bit her lip and looked at her feet. Mulder's smile vanished. "Reyes? Please tell me you know the difference between fantasy and reality."

"Of course I know the difference. I'm just saying... that maybe the line between fantasy and reality isn't as straight and clear as we thought. What if there's a whole other world out there, full of wizards and magic and impossible things? What if it's all around us, and right under our noses?" She glanced at William. "We just have to look for it."

Doggett chuckled, embarrassed. He draped a condescending arm across his partner's shoulders and whispered, "Mon, sweetheart, did you order a few extra drinks for yourself while I wasn't looking?"

"I'm not drunk, John," she said, pushing his arm away. "I'm serious. Think of how simple it would be if you guys just believed in this. It would explain so much... I mean, you could practically retire the X-Files, Mulder."

"Agent Reyes, as much as I appreciate your intent to wrap up my life's work, I really don't think wizards are the answer. Maybe you should talk to Langly, I'm sure he'd love to add you to his D&D group. Lord Manhammer and company haven't had a girl in their game since 1986."

"Monica, I promise, we're going to get you the best doctors," said Doggett. "You can have your pick of psychiatrists from the NYPD, the Marines, not to mention the standard Bureau shrinks."

Reyes sighed and turned to Scully. "Do you think I'm crazy, too?"

"I don't know yet," said Scully. "You need to tell me what this has to do with my son."

Reyes took a deep breath. "Call it a feeling, but I think that William may have magical tendencies. He may be an early bloomer of the wizarding world."

"Oh, no, you must be mistaken," said Mulder. "See, my son's an alien, not a wizard--" Scully gave him a shove in the arm.

"At least get him checked out," Reyes insisted. "There are ways to tell if he's magic or not. Take him to..." She whipped out a worn and highlighted hardcover book and pointed to the name of the school, circled with red pen. "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Mulder let out a laugh, and Doggett shot him a look that said, 'I'd laugh too if I weren't so damn worried about her mental health.' Mulder quieted and joined the very long and uncomfortable silence that was hanging over them. But finally Scully spoke, bravely.

"So, Monica... how do we get there?" she asked.

Mulder turned and stared at her. "You can't seriously be considering this."

"Why not? Isn't it worth it to find out, for William?"

"Are you running a fever?" He moved to feel her forehead, but she slapped his hand away.

"I want to try this, Mulder," she said calmly, then lapsed into ultra-dramatic mode: "I need to know what's wrong with my son!!"

Everyone rolled their eyes. "Here we go again," muttered Doggett. "Give her an Emmy, somebody, for Christ's sake--"

"All right, all right," Mulder said quickly. "We'll take William to... Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." He shook his head incredulously as the words left his mouth.

"As if I needed your permission," Scully said under her breath. Mulder opened his mouth to retort, but wisely thought better of it and said nothing.

So our four heroes and the toddler packed up their belongings and headed east-- across the pond to Scotland.